Too clever by half just isn’t clever enough

I had a tutor at college who used to tell her students: “If you’re not clever enough to be sensible then you’re not really clever at all.” One of the most brilliant scholars of her generation — an Anglo-Saxon specialist with an interest in Old Norse — she had no time for pretentious undergraduate ramblings or pointless adolescent angst. If someone attempted a deconstructionist analysis of Beowulf, or quoted Terry Eagleton in an essay on the Old English riddles, she would raise a disapproving eyebrow. Clever? Maybe. Sensible? Certainly not.

I’ve always thought this was an excellent prism through which to look at politics as well as life. Heston Blumenthal’s snail porridge, Lady Gaga’s meat dress and certain Turner Prize entries all fall on the…